Howdy folks! *tips Stetson. Looks like I’m going to be doing this here Sub It Club Contest Roundup from now on. Yee-haw! It’s a great feature of the Club so ya’ll can keep track of upcoming contest, pitch, and giveaway opportunities. We here at Sub It Club believe that being a writer shouldn’t have to cost you much of anything. Free contests sure are better than a poke in the eye. We do post some contests with a reasonable entry fee or those that require a membership such as SCBWI because heck, you just may belong to a fine association like that already. And yup, every contest isn’t for every writer. Read them there contest rules carefully. And good luck partner!*

*This silly intro has been brought to you by one tired writer mom who may be spending too much time in the country.

January 2014:

1/27: Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award – “One Grand Prize winner will receive a publishing contract with a $50,000 advance, and four First Prize winners will each receive a publishing contract with an advance of $15,000. Visit the Prizes page for the full list of prizes and details. The categories include five popular genres: General Fiction, Romance, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror and Young Adult Fiction. For complete eligibility details, view the Official Contest Rules, or read details on how to enter. Visit CreateSpace to learn more.”

Please read the contest rules carefully before entering!

1/27: Blind Speed Dating Contest– Submit a query and the first 250 words of your completed manuscript. A maximum of 40 entries will be chosen to move on to the agent rounds where the undercover “Honorary Cupid” agents (9 at the time of this posting) will shoot arrows at the entries and make requests. There is a $10 entry fee for this contest.

1/22 – 1/30: Our very own SUB IT CLUB ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY!Enter to win a submission opportunity to Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency, Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary, or Mira Reisberg of Hummingbird Literary or a first 15 pages plus query letter critique from agent Sean McCarthy, a Query Package Critique from author Kristine Asselin, or a First Five Pages critique from author Veronica Bartles. Entry is easy!

1/1 – 1/31: Highlights Fiction Contest – This year’s category is holiday stories. Short stories for children up to 800 words. Must be clearly marked FICTION CONTEST or manuscript will be considered a regular submissions to Highlights. Three prizes of $1000.00 or tuition for any Highlights Foundation Founders Workshop. Entry must be postmarked by January 31st. http://www.highlights.com/highlights-fiction-contest

1/31: International Illustrated Silent Book Contest – The 2014 SILENT BOOK CONTEST competition “invites authors and illustrators to think up and design a book conceived exclusively for the telling of a story through illustrated images, on any subject and intended for a wide and diverse section of the reading public, regardless of genre or age.” Publishing contract with cash advance offered to the winner. Finalists to be announced at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in March. http://www.silentbookcontest.com/silentbookcontest/index-eng.html

1/31: ILLUSTRATORS – Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival – “Organizers of the Sharjah International Book Fair have called upon illustrators of children’s books around the world to participate in the third edition of the Sharjah Exhibition for Children Book’s Illustrations.” The exhibition will be held on the sidelines of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival from April 15 to 25 at the Expo Centre in Sharjah (Artist need not be present.) Cash prizes. Interested applicants must submit a participation form by January 31st and minimum of three and a maximum of six of their original works by February 15, 2014.

2/2: NEW ENGLAND WRITERS ONLY – PEN New England Children’s Book Discovery Award– “Entrants must be residents of New England who have not been published in any genre including adult fiction and non-fiction (with the exception of print and online magazines, textbooks, anthologies and self-publishing).” Categories accepted include picture book, MG, YA, poetry, and nonfiction. Read the guidelines for more info.

2/10: A Sweetheart Deal For Picture Book Writers…(Fiction and Non-fiction) on S.K. Mayhew’s blog. Submit one full picture book manuscript, fiction or non-fiction. Contest opens February 10th at 12 a.m. CST on S.K. Mayhew’s blog and takes the first 51 submissions only. Will be judged by writer Sharon K. Mayhew and agent Terrie Wolf. Five fiction and five non-fiction manuscripts will be chosen as winners. Each winner to receive a manuscript critique and a thirty minute phone call with Literary Agent Terrie Wolf.

2/15: Agent Judged Pitch + Page Contest at Adventures in YA Publishing. Middle Grade, Young Adult, and New Adult submissions are eligible. The first 100 entries will be accepted. Send in a pitch of no more than 150 words along with the first sentence of a completed manuscript. After voting the top 25 will be invited to send in their first page. Top ten will move on to the agent round.

2/17: Pitch your manuscript at Savvy Authors – Savvy Authors has a list of agents and editors open to pitches on their blog. Read the instructions and list of pitch opportunities. The open period varies but seems to be around 2-5 days.

2/26: #MWSL – This isn’t a contest but it’s helpful so I wanted to include it. Agents use the hashtag from time to time but there is a planned tweetup on the 26th. Agents will be tweeting their wish lists using the #MWSL hashtag. You can check out the #MWSL Tumblr for past tweets.

March 2014:

3/1: March Madness Poetry Write Off at Think Kid – There are cash prizes payments for poems in certain rounds. Bracket selection will be March 2nd so get your application in asap. “First words will be assigned on Monday, March 17th, and the first poems will be up for vote on Wednesday afternoon, March 19th. Read the Authlete Application for more details.

3/3 – 4/4: Australian & New Zealand Residents Only! THE TEXT PRIZE FOR YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S WRITING – “Awarded annually to the best manuscript written for young adults and children, the Text Prize has unearthed extraordinary, multi-award-winning novels and launched international publishing careers. The winner receives $10,000 and a publishing contract with Text Publishing.” Fill out an entry form. $25 entry fee.

Entrants must submit a 35-word (maximum) pitch plus the first 250 words of your manuscript. If the 250th word falls in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of the sentence. More information to come.

3/25: a #PitMad Twitter Pitch Party from 8AM to 8PM EST. Read the rules here.

Upcoming:

4/1: Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest – Seeking submissions of humor poems. Published or unpublished work is permitted. Poems may be of any length. $1000 first prize, 10 honorable mention prizes of $100. You can read the full guidelines by clicking on the link in the sidebar. Taking submissions now -April 1st.

4/1 – 4/31: SCBWI Work-In-Progress Grants – Seven Grants of $2,000 will be awarded annually, one in each category. Seven Runner-Up Grants of $500 will also be awarded, one in each category. Authors of other projects cited by the judges as noteworthy will receive a Letter of Merit. Categories include: Picture Book Text (Barbara Karlin Grant), General Fiction, Contemporary young adult novel, Multi-cultural fiction, and Nonfiction research . You must be a member of SCBWI to apply.

4/12: Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize – The Prize is for a novel by a woman over the age of 21 that marries literary merit with unputdownability. The work must be unpublished, and must not have been accepted for future publication or self-published. In addition, anyone who has previously had a full-length novel accepted for publication is not eligible to enter. Entrants must be resident in the UK. Open to MG, YA, NA and Adult manuscripts.There is a fee of £10 per entry for this contest!

4/15 – 8/15: Pockets Magazine Fiction Contest – Stories should be 750–1,000 words. (Stories shorter than 750 words or longer than 1,000 words will be disqualified.) From the Pockets website: “Our primary interest is in stories that can help children deal with real-life situations. We do not accept stories about talking animals or inanimate objects. Fictional characters and some elaboration may be included in scripture stories, but the writer must remain faithful to the story.”

5/15: Remixing the World’s Problems Challenge–Using the poems from Solving the World’s Problems by Robert Lee Breweras inspiration, write your own remix poem. Winning remix will receive $500 from the author.

7/1: Bookstar UK 2014 Competition– Bookstar is open to works of fiction (all genres) and biographies (UK authors only). There is a reading fee of £5.00 for each submission. Enter via the form on the contest information page.

Know of a contest we missed? Contact us at subitclub (at) gmail (dot) com!

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Published by Heather Ayris Burnell

Author of the UNICORN AND YETI early reader series coming in 2019 from Scholastic Acorn, and KICK! JUMP! CHOP! THE ADVENTURES OF THE NINJABREAD MAN published by Sterling. Creator of Sub It Club. Usually fooling around on Twitter @heatherayris.
View all posts by Heather Ayris Burnell